Los Angeles Family Gets Emergency Grant After Years of Trauma

“…I will never give up, I will prevail, my name is Tracey Greenberg and I am a fighter.”

This was written by Tracey Greenberg, a mother and wife, who had been diagnosed with bone and breast cancer. Although she was a fighter, Tracey succumbed to the illness leaving behind a husband, Peter, and three children.

After her death, life for the Greenberg family was difficult. The grief was tremendous, bills piled up and work wasn’t coming for Peter. He had to take a leave of absence during Tracey’s illness. His experience as a realtor wasn’t paying dividends: the housing market crashed and nothing was selling.

Faced with no alternative, Peter stopped paying the mortgage and medical bills. If he lost the house, the future of the Greenberg family would be bleak. There seemed to be no hope.

Phillips Charitable Organization (PCO), a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping families in urgent need, was approached about providing relief. “We learned of Peter’s story, and it hit home for me. Peter’s family’s financial need was undeniable with three children at risk,” said Eric Garvin, Board Member of PCO. “Several board members have personal experience with cancer. We knew he fit within our need-based parameters, and we were happy to give to his family to help ease the financial burden.”

True to its mission of helping those in need within hours, PCO approved the grant and got the money for back-payments on the mortgage to Peter within 24 hours. The money couldn’t have come to a more relieved family.

This type of speedy relief is the reason Phillips Charitable Organization exists. The Organization focuses its efforts on three constituencies: single parents, engineering students, and military veterans.

Two major operating principles of PCO are to (1) evaluate and decide on grants quickly, normally within 48 hours, to help people with urgent challenges and (2) expend 100% of foundation funds on helping people in need and nothing on administrative overhead which is funded by the board itself. PCO was founded by four lifelong friends including its president, Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor.